VfL Bochum’s women’s team is aiming for the Bundesliga. And quickly, to have an advantage over Schalke and BVB.

It was a gripping finale right to the end in the Women’s Regional League West – with a sobering end for VfL Bochum. In third place, they once again missed out on promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga. But even that should only be an intermediate step.

In a conversation with journalists, the management in the person of Hans-Peter Villis (chairman of the board) and Ilja Kaenzig (finances) spoke of the big goal: VfL also wants to take the women’s team into the 1st Bundesliga. A vision, including financing, is already in place and planned into the club’s budget.

“The spirit of the times, social developments and the accompanying sensitivity among large companies are creating fantasy on the financing side,” says Kaenzig. He calculates: 400,000 euros would be the cost of the Regional League, 500,000 euros the 2nd Bundesliga and for the Bundesliga it would be one million euros. Bochum does not want to take a long time for this ambitious project.

The reason: a competitive advantage over the Revier rivals Borussia Dortmund and FC Schalke 04. Both neighbours are now also investing money in the women’s sector, but had to start at the bottom and will be playing in the Landesliga next season. VfL would like to use this head start to its advantage.

VfL Bochum: Women’s players at Lohrheide?

“We have a competitive advantage for three to four years.” This goes hand in hand with a locational advantage. “Until then, VfL would probably be the only club from the Ruhr area in the competitive field.” But there is more to the “vision of women’s football” than financing. Keyword professionalisation.

One big problem: sufficient training facilities on Castroper Straße. All the times on the pitches are occupied. The stadium question is also still to be clarified; those responsible ruled out a permanent double occupancy of the Ruhrstadion. For a possible Bundesliga season, VfL has set its sights on the then renovated Lohrheide stadium in Wattenscheid.

However, selected matches could also take place in the Ruhrstadion – then in front of a sell-out crowd, as the VfL managers can well imagine. The hiring of a permanent sporting director should also contribute to further professionalisation. This is the first step, everything else is to follow in the near future – on the way to the top.